An Overview of Process and Product Requirements for Next Generation Thin Film Electronics, Advanced Touch Panel Devices, and Ultra High Barriers

Abstract

| Roll-to-Roll (R2R) production of thin film based display components (e.g., active matrix TFT backplanes and touch screens) combine the advantages of the use > of inexpensive, lightweight, and flexible substrates with high throughput production. Significant cost reduction opportunities can also be found in terms of processing tool capital cost, utilized substrate area, and process gas flow when compared with batch processing systems. Applied Materials has developed a variety of different web handling and coating technologies/ platforms to enable high volume R2R manufacture of thin film silicon solar cells, TFT active matrix backplanes, touch screen devices, and ultra-high barriers for organic electronics. The work presented in this chapter therefore describes the latest advances in R2R PVD processing and principal challenges inherent in moving from lab and pilot scale manufacturing to high volume manufacturing of flexible display devices using CVD for the deposition of active semiconductors layers, gate insulators, and high performance barrier/passivation layers. This chapter also includes brief description of the process and cost advantage of the use of rotatable PVD source technologies (primarily for use in flexible touch panel manufacture) and a summary of the current performance levels obtained for R2R processed amorphous silicon and IGZO TFT backplanes. Results will also be presented for barrier film for final device/frontplane encapsulation for display applications.

Flexible and stretchable inorganic solar cells: Progress, challenges, and opportunities

“…Nevertheless, Applied Materials based in the USA provides R2R PECVD tools, while Meyer Burger provides encapsulation tools. 13 Metal foil substrate. Metal foils based on aluminum and stainless steel have been reported as successful substrates for a-Si-based photovoltaic cells, especially the latter which has been adopted as a commercial substrate by Uni-Solar.…”

Transparent Flexible Ultra‐Low Permeability Encapsulation Film: Fusible Glass Fired on Heat‐Resistant Polyimide Membrane

“…In contrast, roll‐to‐roll (R2R) processing, which involves directly assembling the devices on a formed substrate, is more suitable for large‐scale industrial production. [ 6,7 ]…”

“…Encapsulation materials have gradually developed from rigid glass plates to flexible thin films in recent years. [ 6,10 ] The degree of gas permeability is the most important property of TFE materials because flexible electronics use reactive metals and organic matters in devices. It is generally required that the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) should be on the order of 10 −3 –10 −6 g m −2 day −1 to provide flexible electronics to have a sufficient service life.…”

Preparation of Nacre‐Like Polyimide/Montmorillonite Composite Films with Excellent Water Vapor Barrier Properties by Gravity‐Induced Deposition

“…In addition, high gas barrier polymeric materials have a considerable requirement in the consumer electronic market because of the proliferation of flexible and foldable displays. [ 6 ] Previous studies have pointed out the serious harm of poor encapsulation to electronic device. For instance, due to the poor encapsulation of organic light‐emitting diode (OLED), the water vapor and oxygen will easily enter the device and corrode the electrode layer, resulting in non‐luminous “black spots” and shortening lifetime of the device.…”